


The Campus Is At War

by julielouise (orphan_account)



Series: Live It Up While You Can (You Don't Get Another Shot) [2]
Category: All Time Low, Bandom, Cobra Starship, Fall Out Boy, My Chemical Romance, Panic! at the Disco, The Academy Is...
Genre: M/M, enjoy, i'd read part 1 first tbh, suffering starts next part, this is just short and gay
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-25
Updated: 2015-08-25
Packaged: 2018-04-17 03:43:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 5,035
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4650948
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/julielouise
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>And he really wanted to, because campus paintball was a really fucking bad idea, and someone was gonna get hurt, and he could lose his RA position but everyone was staring at him and Mikey was smiling and Brendon was shooting him that fucking puppy look and in the months to follow Ray would really wish he’d had the willpower to say no.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

“Dude,” someone said, snapping Ray out of his daze. “You’ve been staring into space for, like, five minutes.” He couldn’t tell who was actually talking to him, but he assumed it was Pete, who was standing very close to him and staring right into his face.

“No offense Pete, but will you, like, back the fuck away from my boyfriend?”

“Sorry little Way,” Pete said, moving over to Patrick, who was talking animatedly about Star Wars with Andy. Mikey sat down next to Ray and put a hand on his shoulder, making Ray look over at him.

“You okay?”

“Oh, yeah, just confused.”

“About what?”

“Honestly?” Mikey nodded. “How the fuck that disaster of a teamwork day brought us all together like this.” Most everyone had stopped their conversations and was looking at him now.

“What do you mean?” Alex asked, glancing up from where he was sitting on the floor.

“Like, the original intent was just to get all of you, minus Jack and Alex, to stop yelling all the fucking time, and to get me to stop spending so much damn money on Tylenol. And now here we are.”

“Here we are,” William repeated. “Sixteen gay guys who sit in this lounge and eat pizza together every Friday? Not exactly how I imagined my college career.” A few people hummed in agreement.

“You love it,” Gabe said.

“I love you,” William responded.

“Alright, enough of that sappy shit,” Brendon groaned, sitting up on the floor. “Where is the fucking pizza?” A few people glared at him and he rolled his eyes. “What? I’ve got my priorities straight.”

“And wasn’t someone supposed to bring video games? I want to play Halo,” Andy whined, laying back against Joe.

“Somehow these things never work out,” Ray said. “I’ll go order pizza, someone go find video games.”

Andy was halfway up the stairs to his dorm before Ray had even finished the sentence.

 

-

 

Half an hour later the group was sitting around watching Jack, Alex, Frank, and Pete play Halo. Rather, watching Jack, Alex, and Frank play Halo. Pete was just kind of being really gay with Patrick, and was repeatedly losing as a result.

“Dude,” Frank piped up. “Are you actually gonna try and play?”

“Probably not.”

“Then give the controller to someone else,” Alex said. Pete moved closer to Patrick and tossed the remote, which was almost immediately grabbed by Brendon. The four of them started playing and everyone resumed conversation. Ray was leaning back against the couch, arm around Mikey, who was yelling loudly about comic books with Gerard and Andy. William was cuddled against Gabe and participating in some sort of heated discussion about literature with Jon and Spencer, Pete and Patrick were talking about God knows what, Dallon was asleep, and Joe was. Somewhere.

The conversation dwindled and everyone sat in silence, watching the screen as the four boys played. There was the occasional yell from one of them, but Ray enjoyed that it was mostly quiet. For once.

Wrong.

Very suddenly, Joe jumped out from behind the chair Dallon had passed out in and shrieked, making everyone look over. Dallon’s eyes opened and he jumped from the chair and screamed. Brendon burst into a fit of giggles on the floor and Ray just sighed.

“Dude,” Gabe said. “Do you have to do that every time he sits down somewhere?”

“It’s fun,” Joe argued.

“Not for me!” Dallon exclaimed, glaring at Joe.

“Who cares?” Brendon asked. “It’s fun for everyone else.”

“Next time he screams like that I’m gonna have a heart attack,” Patrick said. William hummed in agreement.

“You? I’m the one who can’t even sit down safely somewhere without being attacked.”

“That’s a little dramatic,” Ray countered.

“I am attacked everyday by the harsh standards society expects us to meet.”

“Jon, you aren’t allowed to talk anymore,” Gerard piped up. “Spencer, you should start carrying around a rolled up newspaper and hit him on the head with it when he says something.”

“Or a spray bottle,” Frank said. “Just like. Spray him in the face.”

“He’s not a cat, guys.” Spencer argued.

“Schrodinger might fight you on that,” Jon said, crossing his arms. Spencer leaned over and hit him on the head, then looked at Frank.

“The spray bottle isn’t a bad idea.”

The next ten minutes passed in near silence with only idle conversation here and there. But Ray knew he shouldn’t get used to the quiet, because something was bound to happen, and he was right. He hadn’t been watching the screen, but something had happened in the game to make Brendon yell at one of the other guys, presumably Frank, until all four of them were yelling.

“It’s not my fault you’re awful at this game!”

“Hey!”

“He’s right.” Jack piped up. Alex sighed and put his controller down, moving to the empty spot on the couch.

“No offense, dude, but you’d suck just as bad shooting in real life as you do in this game.” Frank said.

“OH YEAH?” Brendon shouted. “OKAY. LET’S HAVE A GUNFIGHT. RIGHT NOW.”

“Hey,” Ray said from the couch. “Let’s not do that.”

“There is no one here that trusts you with a real gun, Brendon.”

“If I can’t have a gunfight with Frank then how the hell am I supposed to prove him wrong and assert my dominance?” Brendon asked. Everyone was quiet, staring at him.

“I know,” Mikey said.

“How, little Way?”

“Paintball.”


	2. Chapter 2

For a solid minute, everyone was quiet.

“Mikey,” Ray whispered. “Mikey, take that back. Mikey please.” It was a little late for that, though, because Brendon had made his way over to an empty chair and was standing on it.

“Oh no,” William said.

“PAINTBAAAAAAALL!” He yelled, and jumped back into the floor. “I’M GONNA KICK ALL OF YOUR ASSES.”

“Isn’t that against campus rules?” Andy asked. Ray tried to say yes, but he was drowned out by a chorus of “who cares” from Jack and Frank. Everyone was yelling a bunch of nonsense and Ray glanced over at Mikey, who was just grinning.

“We are NOT,” Ray spoke up. “Having a paintball war. It’s against school rules, so I could get in trouble. And besides, I trust exactly none of you with paintball guns.”

“Y’know,” Jack said. “It’s not against school rules if it’s for a club or organization.”

“We could do it for the house!” Alex said excitedly. “Do you guys know that asshole Bob Bryar?” A few people nodded. “Well, he and some of his buddies have been hanging up signs all over campus that use gay as an insult. We could, like, go around and shoot the posters with paintball guns, and then hang up our own.”

“That’s not actually a bad idea,” William said.

“What would our posters say?” Spencer asked.

“Pete, what was that thing you said at the house one night? When we were talking about people using gay as an insult?”

“Gay is not a synonym for shitty,” Pete said.

“Yeah! We could use that! But, like, an acronym,” Alex said. “G-I-N-A-S-F-S.”

“What do you think, Ray?”

“I mean,” Ray began. “It’s a really good idea. But when the Dean says organizations and clubs can have activities, he doesn’t mean paintball.”

“Well,” Alex said, looking at Jack. “Let’s do it anyway.”

“We can just be really secretive.”

“Secretive about sneaking paintball guns and gear onto campus?”

“We don’t need gear,” Frank said.

“Do you have a death wish? That shit hurts,” Gabe spoke up.

“Frank, if any of us need gear, it’s you,” Pete said. Frank glared at him.

“Okay, let’s say we don’t use gear,” Ray said. “We can’t really play paintball without paintball guns.” Jack looked at him,

“I can get us guns.”

“Uh?” Alex said.

“I know a guy.”

“How do you-,” Ray began, but stopped himself. “You know what, never mind. I don’t want to know.”

“So it’s settled,” Pete piped up. “We’re gonna play paintball.”

“Guys,” Ray said. “We can’t just-,”

“PAINTBAAAAAAAAALL!” Brendon yelled again, standing on the coffee table.

“Dude, get the FUCK down from there.” Spencer exclaimed.

“You’re not my mom,” Brendon retorted. 

“No,” Spencer said. “But I’ve met your mom and she is a very nice lady who would want you to get the fuck off of the coffee table.” Brendon groaned, but jumped off the table and sat criss cross applesauce on the floor, then stared directly at Ray.

“What?”

“You’re the one who has to decide whether or not we’re gonna do this.”

“Guys,” Ray said. “As fun as it sounds, we can’t play paintball on campus. Someone could get hurt, we could get in serious trouble, I could lose my RA spot, they could even get rid of the house if they found out we were doing what Alex said earlier.” 

“I mean, some of that could have happened with the teamwork thing too, right?”

“Yeah, and it did. I mean, the Dean cleared it so it was kind of whatever, but Brendon did get hurt. I’m really sorry guys, but I just don’t think we can do it.”

“Ray,” Jack whined. “Live a little.” 

“Guys,” Ray began again.

“Ray, come on,” Mikey said. “It’ll be fun.” Ray stopped for a minute.

“Oh, well we all know he’s gonna say yes now,” Pete said. 

“What?”

“Please, Toro, you’d never say no to little Way.” 

“Okay, that’s so not-,”

“True. Pete is right. You’d never say no to my brother, would you, Toro?” Gerard grinned and Ray kind of wanted to punch him because now he couldn’t say no, dammit. And he really wanted to, because campus paintball was a really fucking bad idea, and someone was gonna get hurt, and he could lose his RA position but everyone was staring at him and Mikey was smiling and Brendon was shooting him that fucking puppy look and in the months to follow Ray would really wish he’d had the willpower to say no. 

“I mean, it’s a really, really bad idea,” he said. “But fine. We’ll have campus paintball.” Brendon and Frank starting cheering, and everyone else seemed just as excited. Mikey leaned over and kissed Ray on the cheek and, okay, maybe campus paintball would be worth it, especially if it meant Mikey would do that more often. 

“It might be a bad idea, but it’s still good representation for the house!” Alex exclaimed. Ray didn’t think he’d ever seen him so happy. “So many people are gonna find out about it!”

“Do we still want to do posters?” Gerard asked. “Because I can make them if you tell me what they need to say.”

“I can do shirts,” Joe piped up. “If we still need them, I mean.” Alex grinned. 

“This is all gonna work out. I can tell.” 

“It better,” Ray said. “Because if I lose my spot as RA I’m blaming you.” 

“I never thought my college career would involve a game of fucking campus paintball,” Patrick said. 

“Why should I shoot someone with paint, why do we enact our eventual demises.” Jon spoke up. Everyone went silent, and then, in perfect unison,

“SHUT UP, JON.”


	3. Chapter 3

A week later, they were all standing behind a building on campus, getting ready to play. They were all in their shirts, posters and guns ready, when Ray got everyone’s attention. 

“Before you guys get started, I wanted to let you know that I’m changing up the game a little bit.”

“Huh?”

“Well, since you all convinced me to let you play paintball on campus even though I know it’s a horrible idea, I’m making the game a little more fun for me to watch.”

“Watch?” Alex asked. “You mean you aren’t playing?” 

“Nope. Me and Mikey are gonna sit this one out and watch.”

“Okay, but what do you mean by ‘a little more fun’?” Frank asked. 

“When Joe was making the shirts, instead of making them all different colors, he made pairs. I was gonna have him fix them, but then I got an idea.”

“Oh no,” William said.

“What idea would that be?” Gerard asked. Ray grinned at him.

“Teams.” 

“You’ve gotta be fucking kidding me,” Pete groaned.

“Toro, don’t do this. Remember last time you put us in teams?” Brendon asked, glancing between Ray and his own ankle.

“Yeah, it was good for all of you and I stopped having to buy so much ibuprofen. It was a win-win situation for everyone.”

“Fine, teams, whatever,” Frank said. “Do we at least get to choose our teammate?” 

“Ha, no,” Ray said. “I’ve picked for you.”

“Oh, what a fucking relief,” Brendon said sarcastically.

“You’re each on a team with your roommate.”

“No,” Patrick shook his head. “Gerard and I still have duct tape dividing our room in half and you want us to be a team in paintball without killing each other?”

“Toro, why are you doing this to us?” Spencer spoke up.

“He wants to watch this group collapse in on itself and tumble to the ground for selfish entertainment,” Jon said, crossing his arms. Spencer leaned over and hit him.

“Anyway,” Ray said. “There’s one last thing you all should know. It was actually Mikey’s idea, so you can yell at him for it.” Mikey smacked Ray on the arm, but grinned. “Of the last two people left in the game, assuming they aren’t from the same team, losing team has to buy the winning team pizza for a month, whenever they want it.” 

Any random passerby who hadn’t heard what Ray had said would probably think some sort of riot had started. Which, it kind of had. 

“That’s not even fair!”

“You can’t make us do that! I don’t wanna buy anyone else pizza for a month!”

“Then you should try to win,” Ray said. “Everyone ready?” They all nodded. Ray looked at Mikey, who stepped forward a little, pushing his glasses up his nose. 

“Alright, assholes,” he said. “When you get hit, come back here so we know who’s still in the game. I’m giving you fifteen seconds to spread the fuck out if you don’t want to be hit as soon as the game starts. Listen for me to yell ‘go’ before you start. Hurry.” Everyone scattered, leaving Ray and Mikey standing there. 

“Think they can get far enough in fifteen seconds?”

“I don’t care. The faster Gerard gets out the more I can make fun of him for it.” He looked at Ray, who nodded, then cupped his hands around his mouth.

“GO!” 

 

-

 

As soon as Jack heard Mikey yell ‘go’, he turned to Alex and shot him a confused glance.

“Not to like, question your strategies or anything babe, but why did you bring us over here?” 

“Because,” Alex whispered in response. “I watched Pete and Frank run this way, and we need to get them out first. They’re gonna be good competition, and I want free pizza.” Jack nodded. “Alright, follow me, and shoot any of Bryar’s posters you see on the way. We can come back and cover them up if we need to.” 

The two began to walk forward slowly, being as quiet as they could. They passed a poster, which Jack shot at, covering whatever it had said in slimy green paint. Alex rounded the corner of the building they were pressed against, then turned back.

“Patrick and Gerard,” he whispered to Jack. After a moment, Jack mouthed back ‘Patrick’. Alex moved slightly, peered around the corner, and fired at Patrick’s back. They moved away quickly, but heard Gerard laugh a little, followed by Patrick telling him to go find whoever did it. After a few minutes of nothing particularly exciting happening, they heard a shout of “shut UP, Jon” from somewhere in the distance, and ran off to find where Spencer and Jon were. 

 

-

 

Spencer was crouched behind a huge tree, peeking around every few seconds to look and see if anyone was coming. About five feet away from him, Jon was leaning against another tree, tapping his foot against it loudly every minute or so. 

“Would you knock that off?” Spencer whispered, annoyed. “Someone is gonna get close enough to hear you and then we’re gonna die and I don’t know how many people are left but I am not buying anyone pizza.” 

“Maybe we’re already dead, Spencer.”

“Shut UP, Jon,” he yelled, much louder than he had intended. Jon looked over at him. “Fuck! Okay, let’s get out of here.” Spencer grabbed Jon’s arm, pulling him along as he ran away from the trees. The two of them rounded a corner and came face to face with Brendon and Dallon, who immediately started shooting at them. 

“Assholes,” Spencer muttered as he stood up from where the force had knocked him down. He helped Jon up, then turned to where Dallon and Brendon were cheering and high-fiving. “Why are you still here?”

“What?” Dallon asked.

“You shot us already. What if something happened?”

“Like what? It’s fucking paintball, no one’s gonna set off an explosive or kill us,” Brendon said. Spencer shrugged, then cupped his hands around his mouth. 

“I KNOW WHERE DALLON AND BRENDON ARE.” 

“Oh, you’re fucking kidding,” Brendon said, grabbing Dallon’s arm and turning to run. Spencer grinned at Jon.

“That was fun.” 

 

-

 

“How are so many of you out already? The game has only been going on for like, thirty minutes.” Mikey was sitting on the ground next to Ray, watching as Jon and Spencer walked up to join the group. He nodded at Spencer. “Nice shouting.”

“Thanks. Hopefully someone finds them.” He turned to the group. “What happened to all of you?” 

“Someone got me in the back,” Patrick said. “I don’t know who.”

“It was Alex,” Jack said. “Pete got me, I think.”

“He got me, too,” William said.

“Frank got me,” Joe spoke up. “I think. I fell asleep behind a big rock and I woke up to someone short shooting paintballs at me.” 

“So, out of who’s left, who do you guys think is gonna win?” Ray asked.

“I think I’m obligated to say Gabe,” William answered. “Which, I mean, is what I want to happen because then we’ll get free pizza.” 

“I’m not getting free pizza either way, so I don’t care who wins,” Spencer said.

“Is anything really free in this world besides the immense suffering that societal standards cause us?” 

“Jon, I swear to God, you say one more thing and I will punch you.” 

As the minutes passed, more and more of the group starting showing up in defeat until there were only two people missing.

“Oh boy,” Alex said. “It’s just down to Wentz and Saporta now.”

“No offense, Frank,” William began. “But I am not buying you and Pete pizza for a month.”

“Then you better hope Gabe is a better shooter than Pete is,” Frank said from where he and Gerard were curled up on the grass. 

“He’s not,” Patrick said. “And I’m not just saying that because Pete is my boyfriend. Well, okay, I kind of am, but Pete is really good at shooting games when he has some sort of goal. And Pete really likes pizza.” 

“Gabe brings the pizza for us every week, there’s no way he’s gonna lose. It’ll just mean he has to buy more.”

“He doesn’t bring the pizza every week,” Ray said. “He forgets the pizza every week.” 

“Oh, you know what I meant.” 

“Hey,” Jack spoke up. “What do you guys say we have a friendly bet on who wins?” 

“You’re on, Barakat.” 

After all was said and done, six people thought Pete would win, six people thought Gabe would win, and Ray and Mikey hadn’t participated.

“C’mon, just tell us who you think is gonna win. Bets are harmless.”

“I think,” Mikey began. “That all of you are going to lose your bet.”

“How would all of us lose? There has to be a winner.”

“Just what I think,” Mikey said. Ray nodded in agreement. 

“How long has this game been going on?” Gerard asked suddenly. “It’s hot and I want to go inside.” 

“Stop complaining,” Mikey said. Gerard flipped him off. 

“Really though,” William interrupted. “Shouldn’t at least one of them be back by now?” 

Right as he finished talking, Pete ran up to the group.

“Am I the last one? Did I win?”

“Nope,” Frank shook his head. “Saporta is still playing, too.”

“That motherfucker,” Pete muttered. “Where is he?”

“Oh, I don’t know. Try, uh, right behind you,” Gabe’s voice came seemingly out of nowhere, but he was behind Pete in seconds. 

“Ready to lose, asshole?”

“Come on, Pete, let’s be adults here. Have a mature conversation, you know,” Gabe said. William started giggling. “What’s so funny?”

“The fact that you think you and Pete could ever have a mature conversation.” Gabe sighed.

“Whatever,” he said, turning to Pete. “Dude, just let me win. I bring the pizza every Friday anyway, I shouldn’t have to buy more pizza than I already do.”

“Gabe, you have not actually remembered to buy the pizza on Fridays even once. I’m not gonna let you win.” 

“Guys,” Alex said. “I hate to break up this lovely conversation you’re having, but where the fuck are Ray and Mikey?” 

“Huh?” 

“They’re like. Not here.”

“What the fuck,” Brendon said. “How could they both sneak away without any of us noticing okay what the fuck.” 

“Whatever, we’ll just tell them who wins,” Pete said. “Okay, Saporta, I hope you’re ready to buy me some damn grandiose amounts of pizza.” Pete and Gabe were aiming at each other, both ready to fire in the name of free pizza, when a storm of paintballs came out of nowhere, knocking both of them down.

“Actually, Pete, it looks like both of you will be buying us free pizza.” Mikey and Ray stepped out from behind the building they had been crouching next to, both grinning wildly.

“No fair!” Gabe yelled. “You guys said you weren’t playing!”

“Yeah, well, we lied,” Mikey said. “Welcome to the real world, buddy.”

“Assholes,” Pete muttered. “So, what, Saporta and I both have to get you guys free pizza for a month?”

“Just you, actually. Gabe forgets pizza on Fridays anyway, so we can’t trust him to bring us pizza whenever we want it.”

“Ha!” Gabe exclaimed. “Suck my dick, Wentz!”

“Dude, that’s kind of gay, don’t you think?” 

“Oh, fuck off. Have fun buying them pizza for a month, douche.” Pete flipped him off. Everyone who had been sitting stood up and moved to grab their guns and the extra posters, then they all started to leave before anyone found them. Just as they turned the corner of the building they’d had everything set up behind, they came face to face with two girls, who were holding hands and had smirks on their faces. The shorter one, who was sporting fiery red hair, dropped the other girl’s hand and stepped forward to Ray.

“Hi, boys. I’m Hayley. Listen, Linds and I,” she motioned to the other girl, “heard about your game. We were wondering if it’s still going on.”

“Sorry, ladies, you just missed the end of it. Maybe next time.”

“Aw, come on. Scared to let us play? Think we’re gonna beat you?”

“Not a chance,” Gabe said. “But the game already has winners.” 

“That’s unfortunate. Lindsey and I were really interested in that free pizza you guys were talking about.” 

“Can I ask who the winners were?” Lindsey stepped forward too, pushing her hair out of her face.

“Us,” Ray said, motioning to himself and Mikey.

“It should be noted,” Pete cut in, “that they won by an unfair method that is probably technically considered cheating and they should not be considered the true winners.” Lindsey hummed,

“So you’re saying there’s no true winner?”

“Pete is full of shit,” Mikey said. “Ray and I won.”

“I wouldn’t be so sure of that,” Hayley said.

“Huh?” Ray made a noise of confusion, and the group watched as Lindsey and Hayley grabbed the paintball guns out of Ray and Mikey’s hands, aimed, and fired straight at the two boys. 

“Holy SHIT,” Brendon said when the girls ceased fire. “That was SO COOL.” 

“Thanks,” Lindsey said, grinning. “Here boys, take your weapons back.”

“What do you think?” Hayley asked, looking at Pete. “Is there a true winner now?”

He just nodded.

“Wonderful,” Hayley said, then looked at Mikey. “I didn’t catch your name.”

“Mikey,” he said, taking off his glasses and trying to rub paint off of them.

“Well, Mikey and Ray, I think you guys technically owe us free pizza. For a month, right?” Mikey groaned. Lindsey and Hayley high fived, not letting go of each other’s hands, and began leading the whole group away. As Gerard passed Ray and Mikey, he put a hand on their shoulders. 

“You guys were right.”

“Huh?”

“Well, think of it this way. We did all lose the bet.” 

“Gerard, you’re such an ass.”


	4. Chapter 4

As time passed, Lindsey and Hayley managed to weasel their way into the group. (They also decided at some point that a better name was needed than ‘the group’ and started using the term ‘pizza gays’. It was Hayley’s idea). The two girls joined them for nearly every Friday Night Pizza Party™ (especially after the month of free pizza ran out) and went to the house with everyone often. At one of the house meetings, someone (Dallon, a bitter single) had finally asked the two if they were dating.

“No,” Lindsey said. “We’re friends.”

“But you like, hold hands and kiss each other on the cheek and stuff.”

“Yeah,” Hayley said. “But it’s not romantic.”

“Huh?”

“Platonic love, dude. We can hold hands and kiss each other on the cheek all we want. It doesn’t mean we’re dating.”

“Oh,” Dallon said. “Okay.”

The two were almost always together, and also almost always had something up their sleeves when they showed up to the pizza parties. (The time they showed up forty five minutes late was a group favorite, because it turned out they had been helping Alex dye his hair. Blue.) They had also taken pretty quickly to the things that seemed to occur often between people in pizza gays, such as referring to Ray only as ‘Ray the RA’, and hiding behind furniture to scare Dallon. Hayley in particular really enjoyed helping Joe with that one. 

And at first it had been weird having more people, because there were so many of them already, but Hayley and Lindsey fit in so well and became friends with everyone so quickly that it eventually became weird to think of the group without them in it. At one pizza party, they all went around and said one thing they loved about being in the group because they felt like being middle schoolers playing party games. Hayley and Lindsey both said that they loved that they’d been at the school for three years and they finally felt like they had a place; a home. 

It might have made everyone start crying. Might have.


	5. Chapter 5

“It felt so weird not having pizza parties for so long,” Hayley said as she sat down next to Lindsey on the couch. “Do you know what I mean?”

It was the first Pizza Gays Friday Night Pizza Party™ since before winter break and, yeah, Gabe definitely knew what Hayley meant. Friday nights were always good, because they always meant pizza and friends and having a home, and it was sappy as hell he’d decided, but he didn’t even care. 

“Wow, did you actually remember the pizza this time?” Mikey asked as he walked up, motioning to the open boxes on the table.

“Sure did.”

“He did not,” William said. “I reminded him earlier and he had totally forgotten and I ordered these.”

“So, like, what usually happens,” Brendon said.

“Okay, yeah,” Gabe said. “But it’s not like the first time.” 

“You have a point,” Patrick said.

“The first time?” Lindsey asked. “What happened the first time?”

“We were like, twenty minutes into the fuckin’ party when he remembered he was supposed to bring pizza.” 

They all sat around, telling dumb stories from all the other things they’d done, like old parties and the teamwork day, and Gabe got a rush of the very same feeling he’d had the first time they all went to the house. He guessed it was love, or some feeling of family, and both were accurate because these people had all become his family and he really, genuinely loved them.

For one of the first times in his life, Gabe was happy. Really, genuinely happy. He was so caught up in it that he didn’t even notice when he kind of started to tear up. At least, not until William shook his shoulder.

“Babe, you okay? You look like you’re gonna cry, are you alright?” 

Everyone was looking at him. He smiled.

“Yeah, no, I’m fine. I promise. I was just, uh,” he stopped. “I was just thinking.”

“About what?”

“About you guys.” 

“What about us?”

“It’s just, uh, it sounds stupid, but about you guys being my friends. I’ve never had real friends before.”

“Huh? Weren’t you, like, really popular in high school? And now, even? You have tons of friends,” William said. 

“Well, yeah.” Gabe said. “But you guys are the first friends I’ve ever had who really love me.”

He looked around and saw everyone smiling and felt William lean up and kiss him on the cheek and, yeah, he was happy.

“That was sweet, Gabe,” Andy said from where he was sitting, Joe laying across his lap. “Too bad Pete and Frank weren’t here to hear it.”

“Oh, yeah,” Alex said. “Where the fuck are they?”

Right as he finished, Pete rushed in. His face was flushed like he’d been running and he was trying hard to catch his breath. Patrick got up and went over to him, trying to help him breathe.

“Pete? Hey, Pete, look at me. Are you okay? What’s wrong?”

“Where’s Frank?” Gerard asked. Pete held up a hand, and coughed out his response.

“H-he’s, he’s in,”

“What? He’s in what, Pete?”

“He’s in the hospital.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (i know this one is much shorter than part 1, hopefully part 3 makes up for it) i hope u enjoyed this!! if u wanna talk to me abt it i'm acejetstar on tumblr and make sure u watch for part 3!


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